“He was a man, take him for all in all,
I shall not look upon his like again.”

Workshop 1 – 7th December

First readthrough and discussions.

Topics explored included:

Heart not just head
Hamlet’s masculinity
What is Denmark? – Setting? – Rapiers?
Hamlet the fool
Hamlet – mad? depressed? grieving?
Action to the word – philosophy and thought
What has exactly happened since the death of old Hamlet?
Jaques to Hamlet
Hamlet’s advice to the players
Claudius – “we” to “I”?
Hamlet – playable before 40?
Ophelia
The generations
Outside forces
Nunnery – wtf?
It’s too long (?)
How do we do it?
Gertrude (3.4)
What/who does Hamlet love?
Dark Comedy (5.1)
Heaven and Hell
4.7
Bend a gender

“Tis now the very witching time of night,
When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out
Contagion to this world. Now could I drink hot blood
And do such bitter business as the day
Would quake to look on. Soft, now to my mother…”

Workshop 2 – 14th December

Masterclass: ‘Heard it all before?’ – Tom Latter and Tobias Deacon

Throwing off the shackles that come with such a well-known play, we’ll look practically at some of the famous bits from Hamlet (and other plays) to try and forget what made them so famous in the first place. The aim of the workshop is to look afresh at what we think we know – to open our eyes to different choices and fresh approaches.

“If it be now, ’tis not to come. If it be not to come, it will be now. If it be not now, yet it will come—the readiness is all. Since no man of aught he leaves knows, what is ’t to leave betimes? Let be.”